YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee’s Sharon K. Roberson and Susanne Shepherd Post Receive National Purple Ribbon Awards
YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee President & CEO Sharon K. Roberson and Shear Haven Co-Founder and Survivor Susanne Shepherd Post are 2025 Purple Ribbon Award recipients from Alliance for Hope / domesticshelters.org
NASHVILLE, Tenn. April 16, 2025 – YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee is proud to announce that President and CEO Sharon K. Roberson and Shear Haven co-founder Susanne Shepherd Post have been named recipients of Purple Ribbon Awards, the first comprehensive awards program honoring hopegivers in the domestic violence movement. The awards are presented by DomesticShelters.org, Alliance for HOPE International, and leading experts in the field.
Sharon K. Roberson has been honored as Executive of the Year, a national recognition for her extraordinary leadership of YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee. For nearly a decade, Roberson has guided the 125-year-old organization through transformational growth and innovation, ensuring survivors of domestic violence in Middle Tennessee have access to life-saving shelter, services, and support. Under her leadership, YWCA is wrapping up a $7.9 million renovation of the Weaver Domestic Violence Center, one of the largest emergency shelters of its kind in the region. She also launched Survivors First, a groundbreaking legal advocacy initiative, and helped make Abbie’s Safe Home, Tennessee’s largest pet shelter on a domestic violence campus, a reality.
“Sharon’s visionary leadership, tireless advocacy, and deep compassion have reshaped the landscape of survivor support in Tennessee,” said YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee Board Chair Kendra Deas. “She exemplifies what it means to be a hopegiver.”
Domestic violence survivor and advocate Susanne Shepherd Post was honored in the Survivor of the Year category. Post used her experience as a domestic violence survivor, salon owner, and stylist to co-found Shear Haven, an innovative online training program that equips beauty industry professionals with the tools to recognize signs of domestic violence and respond safely. Since its launch in partnership with YWCA Nashville & Middle Tennessee in 2017, Shear Haven has educated more than 135,000 stylists and barbers in over 100 countries, including every U.S. state, and inspired the introduction of the federal SALONS Stories Act in Congress.
The Purple Ribbon Awards celebrate individuals and organizations who are turning pain into purpose and creating lasting change for survivors of abuse. Everyone involved in the domestic violence movement is a hopegiver, and Sharon Roberson and Susanne Shepherd Post are two of the most inspiring examples of this mission in action. Susanne Shepherd Post has previously been awarded Volunteer of the Year and the Shear Haven initiative was recognized as Most Innovative Service of the Year in 2024.
To learn more about YWCA’s domestic violence services, visit www.ywcanashville.com.
For more information about the Purple Ribbon Awards, visit www.domesticshelters.org
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